Tour Divide race discussion

[Gimmearaise]

Quote from: Angler on June 26, 2014, 01:57:19 PM
I'm going to be honest with you.  When Calvin was here with a table load of other riders he seemed kicked back.  I took him as a guy going for a personal best but not killing himself [in fact the café personnel were taking bets he'd never make it out of the state]. So I was as surprised as everybody else when he stepped it up the ranks.  For a young rider and a nice guy I rooting for him.

And wow just checked him out and 3rd place BEHIND THE TANDEM TERRIBLE?  I'm way overly impressed.

Very impressive for a 21 Y/O, exciting to see. I'm super stoked for him.

[FoldsInHalf]

Does anyone know whats going on with Bill Littmann? He's quite aways off route and well into Yellowstone. Bushwacking adventure?

I'm also often drawn to investigate those dots that seem to stray off course, and this bushwacking by (BL) is one of the strangest things I've seen.

Per the satellite view, he left the main road near a fork, followed beside a lovely cascading creek for a while, went pure cross country for a ways, forded quite a large river, then seemingly onto some game trails and deep into the boonies.

After a couple hours of such off-piste exploration, he hit the custom button on his SPOT which carries only the text "This is the default CUSTOM message. Please update".  He then retraced quite slowly for about half an hour in almost, but not quite, the direction he'd come, then hit his Custom button again.  Very strange.

Hopefully somebody who's following him knows what his Custom SPOT message means, and that it means something like "I'm not actually lost in the woods but just on a little side adventure."  Anyway, let's wish him luck, whatever he's up to out there.

(edited to add: upon further review, using the "MyTopo" mode of the map reveals he apparently got on some Pitchstone Plateau Pack Trail and got in an extra 700 ft or so of climbing that he probably didn't really need at this point.   )

(edited further to add: I zoomed out on this guy's history, and man, he's been off-route more than on-route for most of his ride so far, no exaggeration.  An odd dot indeed.)

[robinb]

Yeah but man are those sunny days magical! I already miss it.

Yes they are! We feel very fortunate to live here.  BTW Joe, I didn't known you were coming up here again... Had I known, we would have extended an invite to you... Next time...

[kato]

Sorry yours was cut short, Josh! Hope to see you back!

Thanks Joe!  Aleeady trying to figure out how to get the time off again next year...

Very impressive for a 21 Y/O, exciting to see. I'm super stoked for him.

Super stoked indeed!  Also, if I'm not mistaken he, Calvin Decker, turned 22 near the Wigwam river "wall" 

[jryter]

I'm also often drawn to investigate those dots that seem to stray off course, and this bushwacking by (BL) is one of the strangest things I've seen.

Per the satellite view, he left the main road near a fork, followed beside a lovely cascading creek for a while, went pure cross country for a ways, forded quite a large river, then seemingly onto some game trails and deep into the boonies.

After a couple hours of such off-piste exploration, he hit the custom button on his SPOT which carries only the text "This is the default CUSTOM message. Please update".  He then retraced quite slowly for about half an hour in almost, but not quite, the direction he'd come, then hit his Custom button again.  Very strange.

Hopefully somebody who's following him knows what his Custom SPOT message means, and that it means something like "I'm not actually lost in the woods but just on a little side adventure."  Anyway, let's wish him luck, whatever he's up to out there.

(edited to add: upon further review, using the "MyTopo" mode of the map reveals he apparently got on some Pitchstone Plateau Pack Trail and got in an extra 700 ft or so of climbing that he probably didn't really need at this point.  )

I don't like the looks of that! If it isn't some weird Spot thing, then he is either having some serious delirium/confusion/low blood sugar to leave an obvious road (I remember that that is pretty straight forward section) for a trail. Or he was chased by a bear or a bear stole his spot......or?

And thanks for the advice on Canada with kids. It won't be until at least next year if I can't talk the wifey into letting me ride my bike for a few weeks. OH yeah that won't happen. Kids it is.

And now probably the biggest question I know several of you are thinking but afraid to ask. Bigger than if Jefe will catch JPDOT. But will Jefe be able to get pie?!?! And if so will he??

[Done]

I'm also often drawn to investigate those dots that seem to stray off course, and this bushwacking by (BL) is one of the strangest things I've seen.

No kidding. I hope that he's OK. That is the most bizarre track that I've ever seen on the TD. As jryter suggests, it looks like a bear got his Spot or something. But that doesn't really explain the custom messages.

[mbeardsl]

Bears like buttons too!  Or he's been trying to munch on it.  Hope BL is okay.

[Done]

I just check BL's Facebook page. Looks like he hasn't been racing for awhile now. 20 hours ago, he wrote: "Riding open class now, hitting race waypoints only."

[jryter]

I just check BL's Facebook page. Looks like he hasn't been racing for awhile now. 20 hours ago, he wrote: "Riding open class now, hitting race waypoints only."

I was just curious if he hasn't moved in while and one was to send the Spot link to someone to rescue him who would you send it to. The Yellowstone website doesn't have any emergency contact info. Or the Nat forest. At least with a quick google. Mainly curiosity now as I was wondering how someone would be rescued.

Maybe a nice spot for a sunset there. But it isn't very far off the road if someone is in the area and could hike up there.

Jarral

[BobM]

I was just curious if he hasn't moved in while and one was to send the Spot link to someone to rescue him who would you send it to. The Yellowstone website doesn't have any emergency contact info. Or the Nat forest. At least with a quick google. Mainly curiosity now as I was wondering how someone would be rescued.

Maybe a nice spot for a sunset there. But it isn't very far off the road if someone is in the area and could hike up there.

Jarral

If you ht the 911 button your location is sent to a national center that routes it to the nearest first responders.  The other buttons send pre-written canned messages to emails that you enter in advance.

EDIT:  Sorry, I see what you are saying.  I would guess you would contact the county sheriff or other agency with the location info, but you wuld have to be VERY sure that he was in trouble.

[ZackR]

He's definitely looking lost. His other course deviations look rational. He appears to be wandering almost at random, or as mentioned, his Spot appears to be. Hard to imagine anyone pushing a bike around in that landscape, what looks like the results of a fire, maybe '88? One could call someone at Flagg Ranch, or Madison, or even the front desk at the fabulous Old Faithful Inn to find out who would be the outfit to check on him.

[Done]

I suspect that he's fine. If he were injured, he probably wouldn't have the energy to follow that trail. He could also push 911 on his Spot, but he's not. I'm guessing that he's pushing the "custom" button to tell his family that he knows that he's doing something odd-looking, but that he's OK. It would be a very strange place to get lost--leaving a big road to head off on some singletrack wouldn't be a likely misreading of the cues. The "wandering" isn't out of line with finding a nice place to camp, heading off for a bathroom break, etc. Hopefully someone who knows what he uses his "custom" button for will check in.

We also know that he's not racing--which increases the odds that he's decided to go for a little wilderness detour to enjoy a beautiful evening.

If I lived close by, I might drive out to check on him. But I wouldn't call the authorities without knowing a lot more.

[FoldsInHalf]

Well, I'm liking the nice sunset theory more and more... this guy's "race" apparently went awry a few days ago for whatever reason, but he' apparently decided to carry on and make a freeform adventure out of his remaining time on the bike, so this excursion would fit that nicely.

That does look like a mighty fine place for a backcountry campsite, up on top of a bluff with a nice sunset over a lake, compared to a ditch on the side of a road somewhere...  

My guess is that his "Custom message" well could mean "I'm off course but doing this on purpose" to whoever is set up to receive it.  Now if it was my spot, I'd just send an "OK" in this case, but who knows.  Just one of the charms of SPOT.  

If he's actually in trouble, his SPOT is clearly alive and if he hits the SOS button, he'd probably be relatively easy to get to.  He's only about 100 yards off the pack trail he came up on, and only about 2 miles from the road.

(edited to add Google Earth rendering from his current location... yep, I'm sticking with the on-purpose diversion theory... weather is perfect too)

[the tortoise]

I looked at his spot on satellite view and it looks real disturbing. If he was someone that I knew well I would be panicking for sure and calling for help. He could have gone into the woods for any number of reasons and gotten lost.
I think in a case like this it is better to take action sooner rather than later.

[JF-mtnbiker]

He is in the Bechler Region of Yellowstone. (a no no with a bike) Looks like he was following the Pitchstone Plateau trail for a while and then he went bushwacking. I've hiked all over that region and it can be tough going. A lot of down fall trees and brush. It has been raining and cool here all day and I would think it's pretty chilly up there. The Bechler and that trail don't see a lot of people. Definitely bears in there.  I camped close to Grassy Lake in 2010 TD and was a bit uneasy because of it. My guess is he went on a walk about for a while and either lost his direction or knows where he is and just decided to stay for the night. Just hope he is using good bear country technique by hanging his food, ect. 

[mtbcast]

TD14 Day 14 and TABR14 Day 20 True Up! We’ve hit 304 call-ins! Please send Andreas a get well email and some emotional scratches today!

http://mtbcast.com/site2/category/podcasts/

[Brian S.]

"You could call at a house and sleep in their house provided the owners would do that for every rider.

You can't get your brother to drive out and give you (only) food, but your brother can drive out and sit by the trail offering every single rider food."

The rules expressly prohibit such assistance.

See tourdivide.org.

[Mathewsen]

He is in the Bechler Region of Yellowstone. (a no no with a bike) Looks like he was following the Pitchstone Plateau trail for a while and then he went bushwacking. I've hiked all over that region and it can be tough going. A lot of down fall trees and brush. It has been raining and cool here all day and I would think it's pretty chilly up there. The Bechler and that trail don't see a lot of people. Definitely bears in there.  I camped close to Grassy Lake in 2010 TD and was a bit uneasy because of it. My guess is he went on a walk about for a while and either lost his direction or knows where he is and just decided to stay for the night. Just hope he is using good bear country technique by hanging his food, ect.  

I am just getting tuned back in here. Bill's back to back (2min apart) check/ok and custom messages (which he never edited from the default settings), sent from well off that Pitchstone Plateau pack trail, looked like a real red flag to me. We see this sometimes when a user doesn't know how to operate their SPOT to send for help. Yikes! It honestly looked like he might have been pursued off trail by a griz in there. I have seen griz on this road probably 3 of my 7 runs. I do NOT like to camp in there. Y-stone bears = bad bears, for the most part (or that's the safe assumption).

Anyway, I immediately called Y-stone 911. As it turns out, The Park is aware of Bill's problem. He has been able to text out (amazed he has spotty cell svc for that). He is stable for the night, but has requested assistance getting out, says he is 'lost'. It sounds like he got in over his head with deep snow and downed trees. Not sure why he didn't just turn around, but maybe he was indeed pursuing that sunset. He'll spend an interesting night in the snow, and have lots to ponder tomorrow after the 'hiking team' of rangers comes in looking for him.

So that's two botched SPOT distress signals in TD so far, both for different reasons, both from personal (not rental) trackers. "What the heck" -Napolean Dynamite

[Done]

Can't wait to hear his story. Glad that he seems to be OK.

[kato]

Oh man, wish I was more mobile right now!  I'm in the Colter Bay Area right now.  About 20 miles from him.  If I could ride and walk I'd hike on in there right now and happily give him company.  It's been a rainy, stormy, thundery beautiful day around here.  He's gonna have good story indeed!